A Grim Reminder
by IamArchi
Summary: Starting once Eren enters the Military Academy, this story followers Eren as he trains to become the strongest Titan-slayer. Not Cannon. Enlisted under Levi as a regular Survey Corps member. Neither Eren, nor anyone else will have Titan powers in this story. Eren x Annie. Armored Titan and Colossal Titan are simply advanced Titan forms, not shifters.
1. Chapter 1

Grim Reminder

_There was a shower of blood that spread through the air as Carla Jaeger's body slid down the disgusting gullet of the 14-meter titan that loomed over them all. The titan then reached for him as he screamed for the loss of his mother. He was paralyzed with rage, and thus was easily picked up by the monstrous titan. Eren Jaeger, a boy of about 10, watched helplessly as his body was suspended over the opened maw of the titan, rows of extremely sharp teeth awaited his flesh as he fell. The mouth began to close around him when-_

"Eren come on! Wake up!" a smaller boy with blonde hair yelled to his sleeping friend.

Eren bolted awake as a sheen of sweat covered his face, his face frantically looking around for any sign of titans. "Armin?" He asked once his eyes landed on the boy's.

"Yea Eren, it's me. Come on, you have to get ready! Don't you know what day it is?" Armin asked before heading out of the small room they and Mikasa shared.

'Of course I know what today is,' Eren thought excitedly, 'today is finally the day we are all old enough to enter the Military Academy!'

Eren quickly sprang up to his feet and began the task of getting ready. Once he was done, he met up with Armin and Mikasa, his best friends, and together they walked across town to the Military HQ. Hannes had shown them the HQ when they had first arrived, and they weren't allowed to sign up at that time, despite Eren's anger, because they were too young. Now that they were all 12, they were going to register for training at the Military Academy.

The inside of the HQ was quite plain, the decorations sparse. The entire area resembled something close to Spartan design, though the designers had no way of knowing that. Everything in the HQ was organized so that it was symmetrical, which caused the trio no small amount of disorganization as they made their way to the registration room.

When they finally arrived, an unpleasant looking lady peered at them from behind a desk that said "Registration."

"Surely you _kids _are not here to sign up for the Military Academy" The lady drolled on.

"Yes we are! My name is Eren Yaeger and this is Mikasa and Armin. We are here to enroll."

"Why are you so dead set on throwing your life away at such a young age?" The lady asked, uncomfortable with allowing these kids, who hadn't even reached puberty, military training to combat titans.

Armin recoiled as if struck, 'This women is serious, she really believes that we won't survive! I don't know if I will survive,' Armin thought frantically before looking at Eren and Mikasa's reaction, 'Wow, they're both so sure of themselves. Don't worry guys, I won't abandon you.'

Eren, oblivious to Armin's inner turmoil, replied without hesitation. "Don't you worry. I won't die until I've killed every last Titan there is! And I sure as hell won't let them kill my bestfriends either, just give us our registration forms, lady, and try to scare they next group of recruits, cause you're not gonna get to us!"

The lady, seeing that she was going to be unable to save these three from the horrors of war-training, gave them all three a form and told them to fill it out in the waiting room, then return them back to her. They did so without hesitation, each one determined in their own right. Eren, because he wanted revenge on every Titan for the death of his mother; Mikasa, because she would protect Eren at all costs; and Armin, because he didn't want to let his best friends down.

Before long, they were being directed to a large room after they submitted their forms back in. The room was filled with a small number of recruits of both sexes, everyone's face showing one of two emotions; fear or anger. Because this was a town very close to Eren's home city, most of the people here were refugees like him, and thus knew what Titans actually were like, causing them to be fearful. On the other hand, many of these people had lost family to the Titans, not unlike Eren, and so wanted revenge. Though no one wanted revenge on the scale that Eren radiated.

There was a sound at the front of the room, causing everyone to notice a man standing on a small platform. He was wearing a soldiers uniform and he looked like he had something important to say.

"Listen up, new recruits. My name is Captain Hans, and first off let me tell you all this. If you are physically weak, emotionally weak, or mentally weak, do us all a favour and leave this minute. Don't waste our time by training and then giving up midway. Though it is allowed, it is a pain in the ass to put up with your bitching and whining, so if you don't think you are tough enough, leave. If you hold no fear, and believe that you can become a hero to humanity, then by all means, join me at the carriages tomorrow at the crack of dawn for a journey deep inside wall Rose." Hans said before he left out through the double doors at the front.

All the recruits began chattering excitedly, some hysterically afraid, while others were revved up and undeterred.

Eren, Mikasa, and Armin all remained fearless throughout it all, and left through the double doors to make it back to their tiny house. Dinner was mostly uneventful, Hannes bringing over some boiled duck that they all ate quietly, the only topic talked about was the recruiting. Hannes was worried at first, he had already lost his childhood friend, Karula Jaeger, and he didn't want to lose the rest of her family, but eventually they had reassured him enough and he retired back to the Military HQ after wishing them luck.

None of them slept too well, but they were rested enough the next morning in order to travel. The trio arrived at the carriages just like requested and were shocked to see only roughly 35% of the original group remaining. The Captain wasn't deterred at all to see the decrease in numbers, after all, many of the original crowd had only gone to act like they had a spine. The rest, he knew, were either confident, or arrogant. 'The training outta sort that out real quick,' he thought.

"Now that everyone who is going to show up has, everyone gather into the carriages. If you don't like the person you sit beside, you can sit on the ground here instead if you prefer." Captain Hans stated, impatient to get these brats off his watch and hand them over to Keith, the overseer of the training regiments. Once all the carriages were filled with new recruits, they started off on their journey.

As soon as Eren got in his carriage, he looked around at some of the other recruits. Beside him was Mikasa and beside her was Armin. Across from them was a boy their age named Cale that seemed to have a ten foot pole wedged up his ass for the way he acted like he was better than them. Beside Cale was Yule, a nice girl if not a bit meek. And finally, beside Yule was Danze. Danze seemed the most talkative out of them, and the only who seemed to not understand the danger of the Titans. Cale believed hecould already take most of them on, but he at least recognized that they could do some serious damage. Danze just talked like Titans weren't even real, and they were training to protect the people from bandits and thugs. Eren already knew that Danze wouldn't make it through whatever training they were going to do. Cale would make it because his stupid arrogance would never let him quit, and Yule seemed like she was intelligent. Eren didn't have to worry about Mikasa and Armin. Mostly because Mikasa had always been the strongest, and Armin was extremely smart; smarter than most adults even.

Eren was actually mostly worried about his own abilities. He neither had the strength of Mikasa, nor the intelligence of Armin. He vowed that he would train harder than either of them in order to become the best. He didn't want to become the best for any sort of bragging reasons, not at all, he only wanted to make sure that he never had to watch another person he loved get killed while he could only stand by and watch. Over the two years that they had stayed at the village waiting until they could join the Training Corps, Eren had already begun working out every time he could, in secret. It wouldn't be worth it if Mikasa and Armin would just advance as much as him because he would be back in the place he was in the first place. At his current level, he figured that he was at least as strong as Mikasa, if not a bit stronger. He knew that Armin would always beat them in intelligence, so he figured that was a lost cause. Eren had also been working on something else, his speed. Many people never truly know how important speed can be. Not just physical running speed, but also reaction speed. He would practice by running through the woods near the town, which had several low hanging branches right at the height of his face. He would run through the trees and practice dodging the branches, thus gaining a large boost to his quick thinking and speed.

While Eren was reliving old memories of training, and comparing himself to everyone, the rest of the carriage was engaged in small talk. Mostly Armin, Yule, and Danze, as Cale was to bored to do anything except look at the window, and Mikasa never really talked to anyone except Eren and Armin.

Eventually, the carriages rolled to a stop, and they were all told to exit. It was night time, but in the darkness the recruits could see a large building lit up with torches, surrounded by smaller buildings.

"Alright new recruits, listen up. I am Keith Shadis, the training director here. From now on, all of you maggots will be under my direct control, and my word here is law! Any insubordination at all, and you will be punished severely, is that understood?" Keith Shadis yelled, a chorus of agreements met his challenge.

"Good. All of you are to go to your assigned barracks, and we will begin training tomorrow. Report to these soldiers here to get your assigned barrack number. Dismissed." Keith Shadis said before reentering the large building, followed by a few soldiers. Eren, Mikasa, and Armin were all pleased to know that they were in 104th Trainee Squad together, along with a girl named Sasha, a boy named Marco, another girl named Annie, a boy name Jean, another boy named Reiner, a girl named Krista, a guy named Connie, a guy named Bertolt, a guy named Tom, a guy named Thomas, and a few others. When they got to their barracks, they found them split into two sides, male and female. Mikasa went to the left after saying goodnight to both Eren and Armin, while the boys went to the right. Eren found himself groping around in total darkness with Armin, trying to find their beds. Armin accidentally grabbed a boy's scalp and jerked it back, hoping that the boy wouldn't wake up. Luckily, Armin's luck held out and the boy merely rolled over in his sleep. Eventually, the two managed to find their shared bunk and both flopped down on their respective beds, Eren got bottom while Armin was on top.

Over the course of the night, more and more recruits arrived and were directed to their barracks. Eren, however, was oblivious to all of it because of how deeply he slept.

_The Titan opened his mouth, but this time 12-year old Eren was able to grab a footing on the Titan's jaw and jumped towards it's eyes. He swung his blade as hard as he could, and punctured deeply into the iris of the Titan. The Titan screamed in pain, but, in it's agony, it was able to grab Eren and this time, the pressure on Eren's small body was too much, and with a large snap-_

The annoyingly loud sound of a trumpet blaring in the distance woke Eren up from his nightmare. He, along with the other boys in his barracks, groggily got out of bed and went about perparing for the day. Eren, and the guys walked out to meet the sight of semi-darkness. Eren was so surprised at the lack of sunlight, he actually bumped into someone. Upon looking, he realized that it was only Mikasa, and swiftly apologized.

"Eren, are you excited to begin training like you always talked about?" Mikasa asked.

If it were any later in the day, Eren would have replied without hesitation, as it was, all he could manage was a slight nod. He was still dead tired. Armin found them and stood next to them. They all stood at attention when Keith Shadis walked past them and stood behind a podium of sorts.

"Listen up, maggots. Today, you will begin the long arduous task of training for military. You all will be trained for three years, that is, only the people who live through it. I'm not gonna lie, nor will I sugarcoat it. Some of you will die because of this training. The 3DMG we work with allows up to move through the air at great speeds, but any mistake will cost you dearly. You may follow me to the Mess Hall, where you will have 30 minutes to eat, and after that, the training begins." With that, Keith left, forcing the trainees to follow him. As Eren looked around, he noticed that there was roughly just under 100 trainees that joined.

At the Mess Hall, the 104th trainee squad chose to sit together. Most of the other recruits had no idea hat a Titan even looked like, an when asked, Armin would tell them a softer version of the horrors a Titan possessed. Jean then asked a question that was everyone's mind, "Well then, if they're so tough, how the hell are we going to be able to defeat them? It's not really gonna bother me, since I'm going to the Military Police, but I'd still wanna know."

"Only the top ten from the graduating class will be allowed the privilege of joining the Military Class and protecting the King behind Wall Sina." A guy named Marco said.

"No you worry. I'll be number 1!" Jean arrogantly declared. Eren already decided that he wouldn't like Jean.

"Yea, why fight Titans when you can hide away inside the deepest wall? Why risk your life fighting back against those monsters?" Marco piped up again.

"I'll tell you why," Eren joined the conversation, "it's because no matter how deep inside the walls you hide, the Titans will come for you. The Colossal Titan was as tall as the 50 meter wall, and torn a hole through the wall with a single kick! What makes you think that it won't just do the same to Wall Rosa, then Wall Sina?" Eren demanded by slamming his hands on the table.

"Why you-" Jean was cut off as Annie proposed a question to Eren.

"Then what are you going to do?" Annie asked, sounding bored but genuinely curious. All the other cadet's heads swiveled back to Eren, eager to ascertain what he would say.

"I'm going to kill every single last one of them! I will wipe Titans off the face of the Earth!" Eren declared boldly, as if daring anyone to challenge his claim, though none did.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, the only noises being the scraping of spoons on a plate as the kids eat their vitamin-rich porridge. It tasted disgusting, but it would help their body's become stronger.

Keith Shadis sauntered back inside the room and called for them to follow him to the training grounds, this was where the fun would begin.

"Alright listen up maggots, before we begin I want you all to hold your military salute until I say drop it." Shadis yelled before he began walking through the neatly organized throng of cadets. Shadis ended up in front of a meek looking girl, staring deep into her eyes.

"Name and reason for being here, Cadet!" Shadis yelled in her face.

"Krista Lenz, sir! I am here to protect mankind from future disasters like the breach of Wall Maria!" Krista yelled.

"I don't think you have what it takes, Krista! Let's see if you can survive the first day of training before you go on thinking you'll be a hero for mankind!" Shadis brutally declared before walking off to another student.

Shadis did this to many students before he stared, flabbergasted at what he saw. A row to the left, and one back, there she was. A cadet with reddish/brown hair, busily eating a potato.

Shadis marched right in front of her, and calmly uttered a question at an extremely low volume.

"Cadet? What is that in your right hand?" Shadis slowly asked, though his voice seemed to carry a wave of power that shook every cadet there, not her though.

"Um, this is a potato, sir." The girl replied.

"And why are you eating it?"

"Because I was hungry, sir. And it was going to get cold soon so I-"

"What is your name cadet?" Shadis asked, shaking with anger.

"Sasha Blouse, sir!"

"Blouse, is it? Why do you think it is acceptable to eat in front of me?" Shadis demanded.

Sasha was dumbstruck, 'so that's what he's upset about, sheesh he could have just asked.' Sasha then ripped the potatoes into two pieces, one larger than the other. She then handed the smaller piece to him and told him he could have half.

All the other cadets could only watch in fear as Sasha was yelled at and forced to run until she collapsed. The rest of the cadets began their long arduous task of physical training. They did push ups until they could do no more, and they did sit ups, crunches, all sorts of fancy workouts that toned their bodies.

When they were finally done, many of them were forced to limp and crawl back to the barracks for the rest of the evening. Everyone was aching all over, but somehow, through all the pain, the 104th Trainee Corps builded bonds with each other, at least most of them did. Annie was still the cold-hearted bitch she's always been, though she did seem to pay more attention whenever Eren talked.

Eventually, they all went to bed, exhausted, but excited for the next day. The training regime had them exercising their bodies every other day, while the days in between was focused on their minds. Lectures, formations, strategies, weak spots, you name it. Also, tomorrow was the day for the 3DMG evaluation exam. Those who couldn't even stay upright would be forced to drop out. It was a tough system, but it saved many lives by weeding out the weak before the Titans did it for them.

Just as Eren's head hit the pillow, his mind collapsed and the welcomed the darkness that his mind receded into as his body healed. This would be a tough three years, but it would be well worth it if he was able to get revenge on those Titans that took his mother from him.


	2. Chapter 2

If the first day was Hell for Eren's body, then the second day was Hell for his mind. Instead of being out on the training field exerting his body to the limit, Eren was stuck inside a classroom with several cadets, including the entirety of the 104th Trainee Corps, learning what he considered pointless tactics. Even though he was sharp in the mind, Eren had always been unable to plan ahead, always relying on his quick reflexes to get him out of danger.

"And then the sides converge on the now-surrounded enemy, thus creating what we call the Pincer Move…" The instructor rambled on.

'Man, no one fucking cares. That move was created deep inside Wall Sina, where people haven't seen battle for hundreds of years. How can we be sure that they would even know how to take down an enemy.' Eren bitterly thought, still resenting the fact that some people got to live in luxury on the inside while he had to watch people get eaten by Titans before his very eyes.

Eren was forced to suffer through Math, Physics, Anatomy, basic medical use, and several other subject meant to keep them alive longer. Eventually, Eren was picked on to answer a question because he was looking out the window not paying attention.

"Jaeger, why don't you tell the class the proper way to escape a six-meter Titan if your 3DMG is malfunctioning and you are inside an abandon city."

Eren thought about what he would say, 'You can't hide from Titans because they possess an ability to sense where humans are, so the logical thing would be run, but using only back streets and alleyways to cause the Titan to get stuck.'

"Run through alleyways and back streets because the Titan would be unable to follow, sir." Eren replied, still standing.

"Ah, a correct answer if there ever was one; however, there is reason to expect that you would inadvertently run into a dead end, and then I guess it will live up to it's name. The question was a trick, you are never to allow your 3DMG to malfunction, always keep your gear in top condition and test it before every mission, so if there is a problem, maintenance can fix it without you dying in the process. Speaking of the 3DMG, I believe this class is over, and you are all to report to the training field to begin practicing your 3DMG. Dismissed." The instructor said before walking out of the class.

As everyone was packing up and getting ready to head to the training field, an older student bumped into Eren roughly.

"Think you're so smart just because you've actually seen a Titan? Huh, do you punk?" The bully asked while picking up Eren's shirt, lifting him in the air.

By now, all the cadets gathered back in the room to watch what would happen, some even calling for a fight.

Eren looked deep into the bully's eyes before wrapping his legs around the older kid's legs and twisting. The result sent the older boy sprawling on the ground, his head hitting a desk on the way. Eren quickly left the room as people began to look at him with awe, Mikasa and Armin following beside him.

Soon enough, they were all assembled on the training field, and better yet, none of the instructors knew what happened to the kids head because they didn't really care enough to ask.

When they were handing out the gear, the older kid handed one to Eren before apologizing for his behaviour. Eren felt something was fishy, but accepted it none the less. When they all were told to go up one by one, Eren was the first one up. He got all tightened up and Keith called for him to be lifted in the air. Once he was in the air, instead of falling and injuring himself like the bully had planned, he stood perfectly still, a testament to his skill for being able to hold himself up with broken equipment.

"Uh, sir?" Eren tentatively asked.

"Yes, cadet Jaeger?"

"I believe that my equipment is broken, may I get a new pair?"

"Let me see your equipment." Shadis replied before looking over Eren's clearly broken gear.

"Wow, I think we have a protégé on our hands this year. You were able to hold yourself still when better men would have cracked their skulls open on the ground. Good job, cadet Jaeger."

Eren beamed with pride after congratulating Mikasa on passing her test as well. It seemed like they would still be together afterall, though this time it would be him protecting her.

Before long, the weeks passed by, and weeks turned into months, and months turned into years, and suddenly they were all on stage getting their graduating order.

"After three years of harsh training, I present this year's top five cadets in order of growing score. Number five is Annie! Number four is Bertolt! Number three is Reiner! Number two is Mikasa! And finally, the cadet that has shown promise unparalleled in training history, Eren! The top ten cadets will be allowed to choose if they want to go the the Military Police or not. Cadets, now is the time to pick. Eren Jaegar, what do you pick?"

"Scout Regiment, sir!"

"Very good, Mikasa Ackerman, what do you pick?"

"Scout Regiment, sir!"

"Excellent! Reiner Braun, what do you pick?"

"Scout Regiment, sir!"

"Three of the top going into Scout Regiment? What is wrong with this year's?" Some random civilian said during the ceremony.

"Bertolt Hoover, what do you pick?"

"Scout Regiment, sir!"

"Of course, Annie Leonhardt what do you pick?"

"Scout Regiment, with Eren."

"Good choice." This continued on with the rest choosing either Scout Regiment or Military Police. Thankfully, most of the 104th Trainee Corps decided to join the Scout Regiment, with only Jean and Marco going to the Military Police.

"Now that we have completed this year's graduation, please find your respective Commanding Officer to await orders." Keith Shadis proudly announced before leaving the stage himself.

Eren and the rest of the Scout Regiment walked over to stand before a tall blonde man that proudly wore the Wings of Freedom, the symbol of the Scout Regiment. It only took a few minutes before all of the soldiers stood in a perfect salute to their new commanding officer.

"At ease, Scout Regiment. My name is Erwin, and I am the Commander of the entire Scout Regiment. I am very pleased to say that this will be the best crop of new soldiers that we have ever gotten. I look forward to working alongside each and every one of you, so please place your faith in me, as I will do with you. Now that we are all organized, follow me to the stables where my horse is at. The first test for you all will be to follow me at a steady pace so I can personally see your stamina. We will be heading to the Scout Regiment HQ, near Wall Rose. There, we Scouts will personally train you further than regular military operatives ever go. Only after two more years of extensive training will we take you out of the Wall on your first expedition. Let's go." And with that, Erwin set off to the stables to get his horse.

Though the run to the HQ was tough, Eren couldn't help smiling the entire time. 'I'm finally in the Scout Regiment! One step closer to annihilating those fucking Titans' Eren smirked to himself.

It took four hours, but eventually a panting group of rookies crested the final hill and stood at attention while Erwin got off his horse and stood before them.

"Here we are at your home for hopefully the rest of your life. The Barracks are located to the left of the main building, and the Mess Hall is located to the left of that. Our training facility is the woods behind the HQ, and you are free to use that at anytime you wish. Do try to stay out of the way of some of the older scouts, since they tend to move through the forest recklessly. If you have any further questions, ask a senior Scout member. Remember, we are all family here and you have to be ready to give your life to save any one of these people. Dismissed." Erwin said before he hopped back on his horse and galloped to the stables near the front, and disappeared inside the main building.

"This place is huge!" Sasha exclaimed promptly before collapsing on the ground.

"I second that!" Armin said before joining Sasha on the ground.

Reiner lifted Sasha on his shoulder, while Eren grabbed Armin. All together, they headed to the HQ, filled with exhaustion from the run, but also excitement at fighting the Titans on the front line. After laying Sasha and Armin on different beds, the group headed to the Mess Hall to grab a bite to eat before heading to bed.

The food was surprisingly good, the group noted, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.

"So Mikasa, wanna go out into the forest after this to check out their training area? There's a couple hours of day light left." Eren asked.

"Eren, why don't you ever take a break from training and just ask Mikasa on a date?" Reiner asked before laughing at the matching blushes sported by Eren and Mikasa.

"I-It's n-not like that!" Eren yelled before everyone busted out laughing at the expense of the two. Everyone except for a certain blonde haired girl who abruptly left the room.

"What's her problem?" Reiner mumbled to Armin.

"No idea, women are just confusing." Armin replied wisely.

Unfortunately, Mikasa heard that comment and turned towards Armin. "Are we confusing, Armin?" She questioned calmly. But everyone could feel the undercurrent of female fury threatening to break out.

"N-n-no, ma'am!" Armin stuttered.

"Great!" Mikasa responded before returning to her food.

The rest of the meal passed by in silence, most of them too afraid of Mikasa to utter a sound, but Eren was more worried about that sad look that Annie had given to him right before she left. He didn't know his feelings for the girl, but he knew that they were stronger than those for Mikasa. At first, Armin and Mikasa were the only people he truly enjoyed being around, but as the years rolled on, Mikasa slowly drifted farther away, spending more time with Reiner and Bertolt. Eren was fine with it because even though they were childhood friends and she had lived at their house for a while, she had always been rather distant. Annie, on the other hand, was cold and indifferent at first, but gradually warmed up to him. He had found comfort in a friendly way with Annie, and he was actually the reason she decided to go into the Scout Regiment instead of the Military Police.

Speaking of Annie, she was busy swinging from tree to tree, using her 3DMG to it's full potential. If one were to watch her, they would have to strain their eyes to make out the blur that was Annie as she rocketed by. Little did Annie know that actually, someone was watching her, and they could easily she her regardless of her speed. The mysterious viewer disappeared back into the forest, thinking about that girl he observed. 'She'll do, now I just have to pick one more and my group will be complete. I hope Erd doesn't manage to annoy this one into quitting as well. Stupid man.'

By this time, Eren had left the Mess Hall as well, heading over to the training area. While he was putting on his gear, he noticed a small man walk past him with a scowl on his face. Thinking nothing of it, Eren jumped up into the trees and unsheathed his swords. For the next few minutes, the forest echoed the sounds of metal slashing into wood, along with the sound of gas-propelled 3DMG speeding it's user to ever-new speeds.

Eren was so lost in his training, he didn't even notice the small man from earlier land on a branch near him. Eren moved towards the non-moving Titan figurine, intent on slashing it's neck wide open; however, the observer decided to "test" Eren, and grabbed one of the dials that controlled the "Titan's" movement. He pulled on it hard, causing the Titan to swivel in it's place and move it's mouth directly in Eren's way. Eren, however, just twisted in mid-air and shot another cable into a different tree, slightly altering his path and allowing him to cut deep into the Titan's neck, sending wood chips flying every where.

A soft clapping noise was heard, and Eren turned to finally take notice of the smaller man that had almost caused him to slam into the Titan.

"Who do you think you are, to disrupt my training?" Eren angrily questioned, if it was one thing Eren learned from training at the Military Academy it was that when you were training no one disturbed you.

"Curb your tounge, rookie, or else I may decide against my offer you ungrateful punk." The stranger replied.

"You're from the Scout Regiment too?"

"In a way, more like im the second in Command," The stranger stood directly in the sunlight that peered from the canopy above, "Captain Levi. What is your name, rookie?"

Eyes widening, Eren knelt on the ground and saluted, "Eren Jaeger, Captain."

"At ease, Eren. I hate when people quiver at my feet just because of who I am, now I wouldn't mind if Titans started doing that though." Levi stated, before jumping down to the forest floor with Eren.

"So, Eren Jaeger, will you hear my offer, or do I have to find another worthy soldier instead?" Levi asked, sounding bored with the whole thing.

"Yes! Of course, Captain Levi."

"My squad, consisting of myself and four others, are looking to fill two new spots in the formation, and your skill is on par with what we need. Granted, you're still nothing compared to even the worst on the squad, with the two years of training we could give you, you may come close to surpassing them."

"I accept, Captain Levi!"

"Well that's just great isn't it? Just don't disappoint me, kid." Levi said before walking off.

"Wait, Captain Levi!" Eren yelled out.

"What is it?"

"Who is going to be the other person that will fill the position?"

"You don't need to know, kid. Just remember to show up at Erwin's office to get further orders tomorrow. Say goodbye to your friends, kid, because you won't be seeing them for two years unless something drastic happens." And on that note, Levi shot off deeper in the forest to track down the girl he saw before.

Eren, on the other hand, left to go to the barracks. Upon reaching there, he was assaulted with feelings of sadness. These were the people that he had trained with for three years, and it would be a huge blow to him to lose them all.

Everyone turned to notice that Eren was staring at them all with a face of sadness. Armin was the one to finally ask the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Eren, why do you look so sad?"

Eren gulped before explaining to his friends and comrades what was going to happen to him. To say everyone was shocked would be a huge understatement. Several people congratulated him on being hand picked by Levi to join his special tactical squad, the very best Titan slayers in the world. Others were downcast at losing their friend, this group included Mikasa, Armin, Reiner, and Sasha. No one noticed Annie smile to herself before turning over on her bed and faking sleep.

"Well, I really appreciate you guys. It's been a hell of a three years working together, and I look forward to joining you guys on the expedition in two years. Make sure that you guys train really hard too, or else I'd be forced to save your asses the whole time." Eren smiled to himself after seeing their reaction.

The determination in their eyes to catch up to him was so strong that he almost had to take a step back,

"Yea! Eren's right! Are we gonna let him overshadow our trainee corps that we worked so hard to become? Not me! I'm gonna get just as strong, so I'll be the one saving your ass out there." Reiner said and stood in front of Eren. Both men looked each other in the eyes before clasping their hands and roughly meeting together in the only hug guys are notorious for.

Everyone retired for the night, and everyone slept well knowing that their determination to get stronger had not wavered since their transfer to the Scout Regiment. The only person that could not sleep was Annie, who was plagued with dreams of visiting the "Sea" with a certain brown haired boy named Eren.

"Oh, you're so cute Eren." Annie mumbled in her sleep. Luckily, only one person was awake and heard her say that. Unfortunately, it was the very boy she was talking about.

'She thinks I'm cute? Does that mean that she likes me back? Ugh, these new feelings make everything complicated! Remember Eren, your only reason to live is to kill Titans, you can't get caught up in a relationship… she is pretty cute herself.' Eren thought before shifting in his bed and falling asleep with a confused face on.

In the morning, Eren had completely forgotten what he heard Annie mumble in her sleep last night, and left to the main building by himself after wishing everybody the best of luck. Unfortunately, he was not able to find Annie anywhere, so he would have to wait until two years from now before he could see her again.

On his way to Erwin's office, he passed by several Scouts who greeted him with a wave and a smile, which he returned every time. By the time he got to Erwin's office, he was mentally exhausted from having to greet so many people so early in the morning. When he knocked on the door, he heard Erwin's voice beckon him inside. Upon entering, he was greeted with a sight that made him smile. There she was, leaning up against the wall looking bored with everything.

Annie heard someone knock on the door, and knew instantly who it was. Still, she was unable to control her bodies reaction to his presence, and a small tingle went down her spine. On the outside, she still projected her air of boredness, while the inside was tingling with the excitement of being paired up with Eren and a small squad of elite soldiers for two whole years in isolation.

"Annie, why are you here?" Eren asked.

Before she could respond, Levi beat her to it. "She is the other member I was telling you about. She will come with us to the abandoned HQ to train in privacy. Every member of our group will be training, myself included, so that when the next expedition heads out, we will be able to stop the horrendous amount of casualties. If you two are done staring at each other, we will head out immediately." Levi dryly stated before walking out of the room and down the hall. Erwin wished them luck, and the duo followed the path that Levi had taken to the stables. From there, they would ride on horseback to the abandon HQ to meet up with the remaining members of the elite group.

As he rode, Eren couldn't help but wonder what the price was going to be to balance out all this happiness he had been feeling lately. If it was anything Eren knew, it was that happiness came with a price, and if you ever became to satisfied with life, it would find another way to rain Hell down upon you. With the dark thoughts in Eren's head, he continued the journey with Annie and Levi, wary of what the future might bring.


	3. Chapter 3

"That place looks like an old-timey castle! How could this be the secondary HQ?" Eren questioned, bewildered.

"Well, before the loss of Wall Maria this was a central area in the epicenter of many important places. Now, it is too far away from the Wall, or any river system to be an ideal Headquarters." Levi rolled on, completely uninterested in Eren curiosity about the place he would be living in for the next two years.

"How are we going to get water then?" Eren bothered Levi with another question.

"Why can't you be more like the girl here and be silent, honestly if I knew you were going to complain and ask questions the entire trip, I would have knocked you unconscious first. We get supplies from Command, who sent couriers to deliver our water everyday, but if you don't leave me alone I'll make you go get the water." Levi threatened before finishing the final leg of their journey and hopping off his horse.

"Eren, some of your questions were really stupid, were you just messing with our new Captain?" Annie asked once Levi was out of earshot.

"Ha, it was rather funny seeing how much he could take before he exploded. I must say, he is more in control of himself than I previously thought, something bad must have happened in his past to make him like this." Eren replied while tying up his horse to the stable near Levi's and Annie's.

"Might wanna watch out, shorty actually looked pretty strong. And the way people treat him with so much respect and fear, just saying that you might wanna pick your targets a little bit better." Annie stated with a smirk.

"Yea, whatever. You wanna come with me and explore the HQ, or do you have better things to do." Eren asked.

"Please, I've put up with you for the last six hours, I need a little recovery time. I'll see ya later." Annie said while walking away.  
'Geez, even after all these years, she still wants to be a loner, eh whatever, let's see what this HQ has to offer.' Eren wistfully thought to himself.

A few minutes later, as Eren was walking around a corner, he bumped into someone.

"Hey kid, what do you think you're doing, bumping into someone like me?" The man asked.

"Sorry sir, I wasn't watching where I was going." Eren quickly replied in order to stay on this squad's good side.

"Damn right you weren't watching! If you had any common sense you would- Ah!" The man cried out as his accidentally bit his tongue mid-speech, and blood went flying.

"Sir, are you okay?" Eren frantically asked.

"Oh don't worry kid, he does this all time. He forgets how to talk when he's trying to intimidate or gets excited. What's your name, rookie?" Another man shows up with blonde hair.

"Eren Jaeger, sir!"

"No need to be so up tight, Eren. We're outside of training, so you can just call me Eld. The man who bit his tongue is Oluo. We were handpicked along with a girl named Petra and another fellow named Gunther to join Levi's Special Operations squad awhile ago. So, if you're going to be in our squad, I want to know that I can rely on you to watch my back." Eld calmly replied.

"I won't let you down, Eld."

"What number did you graduate as?"

"I was number one."

"Oh? The top rookie wanted to join the Survey Corps?"

"Yes sir, another one of my classmates who was ranked fifth is here as well."

"Wow, two out of the top five went to the Survey Corps! Who would have guessed?"

"Actually sir, all of top five signed up for Scout Regiment."

"Haha, good! Maybe this crop will actually help us retake the land we lost after the fall of Wall Maria. Anyways, back to the topic, I want to have a little spar with you so I can see what you're made of." Eld stated before settling into a fighting stance.

"Right now, sir?"

"Titans will not wait for when you are ready, and neither will I. Begin!" Eld yelled before charging at Eren.

Eren sidestepped the charging man, and lashed out with a right hook to the man's face, but it was swiftly avoided by a roll. When Eren tried to follow up on the assault, Eld calmly let him get close before lashing out with a kick to the knee caps. Eren faceplanted after the hit, but got right back up, and faced Eld with determination set in his eyes. He was going to show this guy how good he was.

A few minutes later, Eren was tied up on the ground sporting bruises all over, but was still wriggling to get out of the bindings. Eld stood over him looking much better, Eren barely managed to get even a couple glancing blows in.

"Alright kid, you can stop struggling now, the fight's over." Eld said before untying the rope securing Eren's wrist together.

Upon seeing Eren's downcast face, Eld decided to let Eren know the true purpose of the test.

"Good job, Eren. You'll do fine around here."

"What? But I barely managed to hit you, you're just so fast." Eren bitterly replied.

"Eren, this test was to test your resolve, not your fighting skills. I couldn't care less about how well you can fist fight since we will be dealing with Titans anyway. This test was designed to show me when you would finally give up; however, I don't think you understand the concept, and the makes you okay in my book. You should be proud that you even managed to hit me at all, I have one of the best hand-to-hand fighting skills in the Survey Corps. Only Levi is actually better than me in this squad, and he's just a monster all around. Seems like only Petra can get him to calm down. Well anyways, I'm off, good fight Eren." Eld said before exiting.

"Wow! You sure can fight pretty well." A woman popped up beside Eren.

"Ah! Who are you?"

"Ha, sorry to scare you, Eren. I was just watching that fight with Eld, and I'm pretty impressed. My name is Petra, by the way." Petra said with a smile, it seemed like she was the upbeat member of this little group they had.

"Nice to meet you Petra. I guess that means there is only one more member of this elite squad left."

"Who all have you met so far?"

"First I met Levi, then Oluo, then Eld, then you."

"Gunther."

"Pardon?"

"The last guy is named Gunther, he's a pretty nice guy, unless you are a Titan that is." Petra contemplated before adding that part on the end.

"How powerful do you guys think you are? I mean, compared to the usual Survey Corps," Eren asked.

"Well, to sum it all up, we're the best of the best. A usual Survey Corps member will have between 5 and 10 Titan kills, but I have 58 kills. Levi has about three times as many as I have, but the others are only just below me. We are pretty strong." Petra said with a smile, it seems she takes pride in her work.

"What's it like to kill a Titan?" Eren angrily asked.

"Woah there, Eren. Why the anger behind the question?"

"My mother was eaten by a Titan before my very eyes five years ago. I had always wanted to join the Survey Corps to see the outside world, but ever since that day, all I can think about is killing Titans." Eren schooled his emotions after that, but Petra could see how distraught he was beneath his cracking emotional mask.

Deciding not to pry any further, she responded. "Well, to answer your question, kiling a regular Titan is actually pretty easy. When alone, they barely require any work at all to take down for someone of the Survey Corps. Like you've probably been taught in the academy, the only way to kill a Titan is by slashing the nape of the neck. What they didn't teach you at the academy was how to properly dodge the arm swipes that come your way. Titans won't stand still as you swing around to their back, so you need to be able to adjust to anything. Once cut, steam will escape from the wound, and the Titan will likely fall and die." Petra warned.

"Yea, that's a lot like what the Academy taught us, but they never taught us to dodge, just attack." Eren said.

"Tomorrow, I'll be changing that for you and the girl." Levi said as he walked up to the talking soldiers.

"Captain Levi!" Petra yelled and saluted, but the blush adorning her face made the whole act funny.

"Petra, I've told you before that you don't need to salute me." Levi drolled before glancing at Eren.

"Yes, Captain?" Eren nervously asked under the dead stare that Levi was giving him. For a short guy with no real muscular build, Levi was the most intimidating character he had ever met.

"Jaeger, you and Leonhardt will meet me and my squad at the entrance to the North Forest tomorrow at dawn to begin the advanced training. Tell the girl the same thing. Petra, come with me, I need to discuss something with you." Levi said before turning on his heel and walking off with Petra in tow. Before Petra was out of earshot, she turned around and wished him luck before resuming her walk.

Eren went back to the barracks to find Annie to let her know of the training. When he arrived, he was instantly on guard because he could feel the tension inside their room. Eren opened the door to find Annie and a man glaring at each other. When Eren didn't move for five minutes, Annie finally snapped out of her little staring contest and looked at him.

"What's up?" Annie asked, sounding like her usual amount of boredness.

"Uh… Levi told me to tell you that we have training tomorrow at dawn." Eren replied.

"Oh. Damn that's early," was all that Annie said before she locked gazes with Eren before walking out of the room. No one was able to tell that her heartbeat had increased upon seeing Eren staring at her so intently. 'I just need to get away for a bit, and when I get back I'll be more in control of myself. Stupid hormones acting up.' Annie bit out in her head.

"Um… what was that about?" Eren asked the unidentified guy he assumed would be Gunther.

"Tried intimidating the rookie, backfired right in my face. She's a strong one. Oh, that must mean you are the other rookie. What's your name?"

"Eren Jaeger, sir. And you must be Gunther?"

"Yes I am. Glad to know that stories of my success out here have made it back to the Academy to teach new recruits." Gunther said boastfully.

"Actually sir, Petra informed me of who you were only recently." Eren replied nervously.

"So the Academy doesn't record the heroic deeds of Gunther?" Gunther asked so melancholy.

"I'm sure there is a good reason for that, sir. Maybe they don't want recruits wanting to be like you and get themselves killed because they aren't you?" Eren tried to save Gunther some pain. Luckily, it worked.

"Ah! I'm sure you are right! No common recruit could match my skill with Titans.. in fact.." By this time, Eren had already left because he knew that this speech would be long and boastful, and he really wanted to find Annie. She had been acting weird all day, so he set out after her in pursuit.

Meanwhile, with said girl, Annie was busy exploring the HQ's abandoned upper floors. Since it was practically a castle, every room was built elaborately, and some rooms even had secret compartments to stash things or even people in the case of a seige. "I wonder what that kind of world that would have been like. To not have to be stuck inside these walls cowering like rats from the Titans. I wonder what it would be like to wage wars human vs. human, like the acient texts they read in school talked about." Annie asked out loud to herself, well not quite.

"It must have been scary," Annie spun around to see Eren leaning against the door frame, "not knowing who was your enemy. One thing good about this war against the Titans is that we know who the real enemy is, the Titans. There's always been human on human violence, but ever since the Titans first popped up, humanity seemed to unite against them." Eren finished before standing up and walking closer to Annie.

"Maybe it was better where you came from, but where I'm from there is a lot more violence. Homeless families all over the place, and it only got worse once Wall Maria fell. Once the wall fell, our already crowded streets became filled to the brim with the needy." Annie liked talking to Eren alone. It was the only time since her father passed away that she was able to find any means of comfort in another person.

"Yea, same thing happened where Armin, Mikasa, and I were living prior to enrolling in the Military Academy. The overpopulation became so intense that they actually had thousands of our people leave in a bullshit attempt to retake Wall Maria that was only a ruse to kill off several thousand people, including Armin's grandfather." Eren replied, bitter at the ignorance of the Inner Walls where the order originated from.

"I'm sorry. We are two unfortunate people, but that only makes us stronger. Loss causes us to be more determined toreach our goal. I know your idiotic goal is to eliminate every Titan in the world." Annie said before she realized how that might have come out wrong.

Eren was struck speechless from the words of his friend. 'She was suppose to support me. She doesn't believe I can do it.'

"Eren I.." Before she could continue, Eren got right in her face. Annie's breath hitched at the close contact they were having and wished more than anything that their faces were closer.

"Whatever Annie, I thought you were my friend, but a friend would have supported my goal regardless of how foolish it was." At this point, Eren lost a bit of his composure and one lone tear shed it's way down his cheek. "I just want to avenge my mom, who was eaten by a Titan when I was ten. She was picked up by a smiling Titan right before my very eyes, and her blood… it went everywhere.."

By this time, Eren gathered his composure and was back to his usual self. "Anyways, I just came up here to ask you what you were up to."

"Eren, I didn't mean what I said like that…"

Eren cut her off with another question to steer her away from that topic. "What was that staring contest that you were having with Gunther in our room."

Annie, seeing that Eren really didn't want to talk about it, decided to humor his question. "He just barged in while I was about to undress without knocking, so I yelled at him. He got really defensive and started trying to intimidate me, so I just stared him down. He's pretty good at that; I think I'm gonna like it here."

"Yea, these guys seem like they're pretty strong. We're gonna get way better at killing Titans here." Eren smiled, glad that he was gonna be able to final avenge his mom and kill the Titans that led to her demise, ending with the one that started it all, the Colossal Titan.

"And soon enough, I'm gonna kick your ass for embarrassing me at the Academy." Annie said, getting right in Eren's face.

Eren looked confused for a second before realization dawned on him.

Flashback

_ "Alright recruits, everyone gather around the sparing ring for hand-to-hand combat. Does anyone here have any prior martial arts training?" Keith Shadis asked._

_ Only two hands raised in the air, Eren and Annie. _

_ "Oh, looks like we have two participants. Both of you come to the center of the ring and face me." Shadis commanded._

_ Once both Eren and Annie arrived in the middle, Shadis hand them shake hands before facing off against each other to show the other classmates martial arts._

_ "Go Eren, kick her ass!" Someone yelled from the audience. _

_ "Annie, fuck him up!" Jean yelled, jealous at Eren always beating him in everything._

_ The two competitors circled each other slowly, neither wanting to make the first move. Suddenly, as if a gunshot that only those two could hear fired, they both bolted forward, and in a couple seconds, there was a winner; the audience._

_ Eren had trapped Annie in an intimate position that resembled the missionary position, and it didn't help that since they were both 14 their bodies were going through puberty, which caused Annie to accidentally moan when their clothes made contact down there. Both fighters were sporting a blush when Shadis told them to get up. It didn't help that almost everyone in the audience was laughing hysterically at Annie's misfortune. _

_ "Alright you two horny teenagers, get off my stage." Shadis chuckled before organizing up people in pairs to train them on hand-to-hand combat. Even though it was embarrassing, the fight was pretty awesome beforehand, and many people were ordered to imitate Eren or Annie. _

_ Eren wisely chose to partner with Mikasa to avoid Annie's wrath, but on that day Annie swore to get payback._

_Flashback End_

"Still upset after an entire year?" Eren asked.

"Scared, Jaeger?" Annie knew that calling him scared would hook him, and she was right.

"Hell no, I'm up for it." Eren said.

"Good, cause it will be when you least expect it. Get ready Jaeger, payback it a bitch." Annie said before winking at Eren and walking out the door back towards the barracks.

'Either she's incredibly scary, or immensely sexy. Ugh, why does she affect me so much!?" Eren mumbled to himself before following her to get some rest for training the following morning.

Before Eren could get out of the main building, he was witness to Petra leaving a room while mumbling to herself. Her appearance looked incredibly disheveled, and she had a weird scent about her. Eren could smell sweat, but he had no idea what the other scent was. Upon nearing her, he could hear what she was mumbling.

Damn… stamina…huge…sore… morning.. were some of the words he could actually make out. Without disturbing her, Eren made his way around her and out the front door to head to the barracks.

After getting dressed into his sleeping attire, Eren crawled into bed across the room from Annie. Since there were only two rookies, they couldn't justify building another room just for one of them to have privacy, so that led to a little uncomfortable feeling for Eren, but he pushed it aside and focused on his duty as a soldier.

'Funny, now that I think about it, Annie smelled like Petra when I was able to get close and inhale her scent. I wonder what that means, maybe they use the same brand of shampoo?" Eren thought before he finally drifted off to sleep, excited to begin training with an elite squad the following day.


	4. Chapter 4

"Eren, use less gas on the upward arc! Let your momentum give you the speed you need!" Petra yelled at Eren as the group composed of everyone rocketed through the trees for their first day of elite training.

"Understood!" Eren called back before he started following Petra's help, after a couple of swings he began to get this new style down fairly well.

"Leonhardt, you should start shooting your hooks a bit later, and let yourself fly through the air unaided between swings." Levi mumbled, but somehow it was just audible enough for Annie to hear. She nodded and began adjusting her flight path, surprisingly enough, she began to enjoy it much more because of the less strain on the body.

"Captain Levi?" Erd questioned.

"Yes?"

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to show them advanced teamwork exercises to take down stronger Titans?"

"Fine. Lets bank to the right and head over to the Titan cutouts to show the rookies how good we are." Levi said with the same monotone voice, but if you listened close enough, you could tell that he was in fact eager to demonstrate the skill his personal team carried.

Once the group arrived, Levi ordered Eren and Annie to stand and watch for a few minutes to learn how amazing an actual squad of Survey Corps were.

"Squad Levi, Tactic One. Go!" Levi shouted.

Several hooks were shot out all at once at varying trees surrounding the Titan. Instead of charging at the Titans neck straight away, they began circling the now-moving Titan cutout. This was just amazing! Petra swung her body around an arm that was coming for her, then rocketed up towards the Titan's face, just to jump away at the last second. Gunther moved in his position and spun up the Titan's leg, somehow avoiding the kicks it did, but that was when it was all over. Erd had made a path down one of the arms, and once he stopped to cut the arm off, Oluo appeared from behind him and slashed the "Titan's" neck wide open.

Meanwhile, Levi was standing next to the rookies and saw their looks of astonishment, which caused him to smirk with pride at his team.

"That was just amazing," Eren said with wide eyes. Annie could only nod next to him, as her mind went completely blank at seeing how devastating true cooperation could be. 'Now I'm really glad Eren brought me out of my shell, or else I would never have been apart of something so powerful like this team.' Annie thought to herself.

"That? Oh please, that's our most basic tactic. Tactic Seventeen is by far my favourite!" Petra called out, now having returned with her team.

"Of course you would like Seventeen, where we cut up the Titan's limbs one by one." Oluo replied, barely missing his tongue from being bitten.

"Nine's my favourite." Erd stated.

This earned him a gasp from Gunther who was happy someone shared his favourite!

Levi stared at his team until they all shriveled under his deadpanned gaze.

"Now that you are all done gossiping about favourite tactics, how about we integrate these two into our tactics and try to bring down two "Titans" at the same time?" Levi said before he led them to an area with two Titan cutouts instead of just one.

"You ready for this, Annie?" Eren said to his left.

"Of course, punk. Just make sure that you're up for it, I'd hate to have to put up with your whinnying if we don't do well." Annie said with a slight twinkle in her eyes.

"I do not whine!" Eren argued, but Annie had already walked away laughing quietly.

'She actually has a cute laugh, I wanna hear it again.' Eren thought before he got back into his training mindset and began flying through the air with his new team.

Throughout the day, the only noises that echoed through the trees were the sounds of gas propulsion and Levi yelling out tactics. Eren and Annie merged with the group flawlessly, easily being recognized as team members to count on.

Petra and Gunther were exceptionally welcoming, with Erd accepting them with a more professional outlook. It was mostly Oluo who was causing trouble for the new recruits by mimicking Levi and trying to be all cool and indifferent, but of course Petra would always squash that train before it could leave the station.

"Alright team, we will all head back to the Mess Hall. I have to welcome someone to our HQ… hopefully she won't scare the new recruits away.." The last part Levi mumbled to himself, clearly worried about the strange person that would show up.

As the group flew towards the HQ, Eren made his was closer to Gunther to ask him a question. "Gunther, why does Levi seem so trouble that we have a guest coming?"

"Oh, Eren. Why would I spoil the meeting for you to meet Hange? No, this will be too much fun to watch, good luck." Gunther replied before racing to the front to avoid Eren's questions.

"Word of advice, Eren. Do not, under any circumstances, ask her about her work." Petra warned, having joined Eren for a brief period of time before returning once more to Levi's side.

'Geez, is this Hange person really that bad?' Eren wondered to himself before continuing his journey alongside the only remaining team member, Annie.

"Are you curious as well about who this Hange person is, Annie?"

"Not really. Although, it does sound like she is feared, which already earns a bit of my respect." Annie replied.

"I guess you'll never change that part of you that will always want to be feared by every one."

"I don't fear you, do I?"

"No, I'd say that you'd have to kick my ass first." Eren said with a wink at Annie.

Instead of retorting like should would have with anyone else, with her fists, Annie just playfully stuck her tongue out and turned away.

Eren laughed to himself before facing forward as well and finishing the trip with no more words spoken.

Once they got to the Mess Hall, and where all sitting around eating their food, they heard and extremely loud gasp outside followed by stomping footsteps that ascended in volume until they were right outside the door. Strangely enough, while everyone was waiting with varying degrees of tension, the person outside waited a good 10 seconds before opening the door slowly.

Eren let out a small gasp as the hand that reached through the door was Titan sized, and reached for his swords. Before Eren could attack the "Titan", Levi called out to it. "Hange, how many times do we have to tell you to not parade around with your paper mache Titan hand? Congratulations actually, you were able to get a gasp from Eren, the supposed prodigy of the recruits."

Everyone in the room laughed except for Annie, who knew about his reason for reacting the way he had. The last Titan he faced ate his very own mother right before his eyes, so there was plenty of understanding from Annie, and she let Eren know that by subtly placing her hand on his for a second before retracting it.

Suddenly, the woman named Hange came bursting in the door and waved around her Titan model in greeting. Upon seeing the two new recruits she ran around the table and got right in their faces.

"So have either one of you actually fought a Titan yet?" Hange questioned them.

They both replied in the negative, and Hange seemed disappointed at their response.

"I was born in the Shiganshina District, and I saw the first wave that broke through the wall."

Before Eren had finished, Hange literally appeared two inches from his nose and yelled, "So that means you saw the Collosal Titan!?"

"Uh, yea I saw it's face and hand."

"Which one of these sketches look like it the most?" Hange then pulled out a collection of sketches that soldiers who were there had drawn up.

Upon looking at them, Eren could only raise a brow at the stupidity of some of the drawings. One soldier had given it wings, another gave it massive horns, another gave it two heads with beaks for mouths. Finally, one of the drawings appeared close enough, and he handed it back to Hange.

"This one is the closest, except there was no hair on top of its head." Eren stated.

"Ah thank you Eren! You have no idea what this means to me! If you want, I can give you a little reward?" Hange replied.

Before Annie could voice out her opinion of that offer, Hange cleared the confusion by stating that she was willing to tell Eren all about one of her Titan test subjects that they held in captivity for weeks.

Before anyone could stop Eren, he had agreed to the proposal, and thus his entire night was doomed to listening to Hange go over and over he theories and the history of no name clans that ate people.

Thankfully for Eren, Annie was able to drag him away at 3 in the morning to get some rest, claiming that she didn't want to carry his weight, but in reality she was just jealous of Hange spending a night with Eren.

The days passed by quickly, with Eren and Annie slowly becoming full fledged team members that the others could count on. Eventually, Levi decided that today would be the initiation day that would officially make them members of the of Levi's squad.

There was varying reactions between Eren and Annie when they heard what the initiation was exactly. Eren looked hateful, and Annie took on a smirk. The initiation was for them to take down a Titan single-handedly, each.

Off the group road, heading towards Wall Maria, which was located only two hours away. The group mostly rode in silence out of respect for the rookies; although, some of the older members gave them some helpful tips outside of the training they had done. Simple stuff, like always landing in a crouch to prevent your legs from breaking.

Petra chastised Levi for making a comment about not wasting his training by dying on their first real mission, but everyone knew that he would do everything he could to keep them alive. Levi, deep deep deep deep down inside, was actually quite a protective individual, and cared for his squad deeply. Lately, he had come more and more open around Eren because Eren reminded him of his earlier self.

Since they had more than before because of Eren and Annie, Levi had decided that during missions they would be split up into three teams. Him, Eren, and Annie; Petra and Erd; and finally Gunther and Oluo. If facing a variant or special case, they would regroup, but outside of that they were exceptional enough to take on full swarms of Titans in smaller groups that wouldn't get in each others way.

Before long, the group had made it to the the large door that would allow them to venture into the exterior of Wall Rose.

"Captain Levi, requesting permission for you to open the gates for another expedition." Levi drolled on, completely against the idea of requesting permission, but the superiors had already gotten on his case before about flying over the walls instead of walking through the gates.

"State your business, Captain Levi." Some no-name guard called out.

"Titan killing."

"That's all? I'm sorry Captain, but it's too risky to open the gates for such a stupid reason." The guard said before turning his back and walking back to his post. Before he got half way back, however, he was surrounded by Levi's squad, including Eren and Annie. Both of them looked at each other, wondering what the group and them were doing. Their bodies just acted on their own to sync with their team.

"Do you want to know why we are going out to kill Titans, punk?" Levi questioned with a glare into the guard's soul, "We go out there because every single Titan out there has taken someone important to us, and we are going to get revenge. Do you want to be in the way of our hatred instead?"

Upon seeing the combined level of hatred that was burning in the group's eyes, the guard almost relieved himself in his uniform, but instead he squeaked in a really high voice that they could continue through.

Soon, all seven members of squad Levi were facing rolling hills with tall grass everywhere. They were all riding on horses, but still the grass was so tall it licked their heels as they rode out.

"Alright listen, we are here for Eren and Annie to get their first kill, but if you honestly can't stand by and watch, I give you permission to get into your teams and take some out yourself. Just remember to fire a black signal flare if there are any variants. Other than that, do whatever, just stay alive. Once we get to that forest over there, we can split up and move into the trees using our gear, but until then stay together and keep your eyes open." Levi stated with an unusual amount of power, it seemed he would be taking venturing into Titan territory very seriously.

Every one responded with confirmation, and their journey increased in pace. It wasn't long before they got to the edge of the forest and dismounted their horses. They didn't have to worry about hiding or tying up their horses because the Titan's ignored them and they were trained to stay in one spot. All seven people rocketed into the trees and split into their assigned groups.

As Eren and Annie flew beside Levi, their nerves were calmed down because of his presence. Before long, Levi held up his hand, signaling them to stop. All three of them rested on the same large branch that over looked a small clearing.

"Good. Who wants it?" Levi asked, and it was only then that they noticed the 8-meter Titan that was walking slowly in their direction. They were safely out of reach in their tree, but still, the very thought that there was a Titan that wanted to kll them directly in front of them had Eren and Annie gripping their swords tight enough for the knuckles to turn white.

"I'll take this one." Annie said before jumping off the branch and shooting her 3DMG into some trees surrounding the Titan. With only a look of fierce determination on her face, Annie rocketed towards the Titan's left side. She avoided the fast hand swipe with ease, and before long was spinning around it's neck in an attempt to disorient it. The plan worked easily, and thanks to all her harsh training her blade easily split the Titan's neck wide open. Annie then relished in her victory for a brief while before rejoining Eren and Levi on the branch.

"Good job, Leonhardt" Levi said before the group shot off towards a new direction.

"How was it, Annie?" Eren asked.

"Easier than I expected, Titan's really are less intelligent than animals. You'll do fine." Annie replied with an arm on Erens shoulder.

"That's good to hear, Annie. I can't wait until we find another one that I can kill!" Eren shouted.

Before anyone knew what was going on, a large hand swiped at them from the front, forcing them to dodge. Eren lost sight of the other two as he was forced to dodge swipe after swipe from the mysterious Titan. Since they were so high up in the trees, the only explanation was that the Titan they were fighting was a 14-meter class. Once the Titan swung again at Eren, he realized that he had been put on the defensive long enough. Eren spun his way up the large arm, and changed direction at the shoulder to avoid the Titan's snapping teeth at his leg. He swung around and, before the Titan could even turn around, sliced through it's neck with perfect precision. The Titan's neck poured out a vast amount of steam, and the abruptly toppled over and evaporated into nothing.

Once the Titan was killed, Annie appeared by his side and caught him in a short hug before Levi appeared as well.

"Eren, I'm glad to see you okay/ Thank God you're okay, Eren." Were the two greetings that he got.

"Ha yea guys, I'm fine. Once I got off the defensive, it was relatively easy. I just used Tactic 6 to take it down like you taught me to, Captain." Eren replied, embarrassed at being concerned about.

Before they could continue their worries over Eren, the rest of the group landed beside them, some of them still had Titan blood evaporating off of them.

"Hey guys! How'd it go?" Petra, the ever happy woman, asked.

"A little complication with a surprise attack by a 14-meter, but Eren took it down before Annie and I could get our bearings." Levi stated uninterested, but on the inside he was truly impressed by Eren. 'I could have easily taken that Titan down before Eren even got off of the defensive, but I wanted to see what he was capable of in the face of death.' Levi thought to himself.

"Really? Good job, Eren." Gunther praised. Erd just gave him a quiet nod, and Oluo was busy acting aloof like Levi to congratulate him.

"More like good job both of them, right Annie?" Petra said while throwing an arm around Annie. That was another benefit of joining Levi's squad, Annie and Petra became close friends. They would be seen doing stuff together outside of training.

"Yea, Annie deserves the credit too, guys. She executed her Titan perfectly, while I had difficulty killing mine." Eren said.

"Oh stop being so modest, Eren. Come on everyone let's get back to the horses." Petra exclaimed while she leapt off, followed by everyone else.

The trip back to the horses was filled with the stories of how the other guys took down their Titans. Surprisingly, Oluo killed the most by far, which showed that even though his personality was kinda annoying, his devotion to Titan-killing and the team could not be matched.

The whole group was laughing and enjoying their time when they emerged from the tree and saw their horses lined up waiting for them. At least, that's what they were expecting to see. What they did see had their faces paling in horror. All their horses had been killed, brutally.

"What the hell?" Gunther said before landing beside his horse.

"Who could have done this?" Eren asked when he landed.

They were all scared because without their horses, they were no match for the speed of a Titan, and the rest of the way back to Wall Rose was grassland, horrible for 3DMG's.

"These Titan's were not killed by men," every face swiveled up towards Levi, "They were killed by a Titan. Look at the wounds, they were stomped on, and crushed."

"What does that mean, Levi? Titan's have only been interested in humans so far!" Oluo yelled.

"I think she is the answer." Levi stated, pointing in the direction behind them.

They all turned sharply to she a 14-meter female Titan looking at them. Before any of them could move, it opened its mouth wide and screamed out a loud cacophony of noises. All of Levi's squad covered their ears, but the noise was still unbearable. And just as the noise started, it was gone, along with the Female Titan.

"What the hell was that? Was that a Female!" Eren yelled, but before anyone could reply, a drumming noise started echoing from the forest. The noise got louder and louder until Levi called for them to run for the wall.

Levi's squad had run maybe 15 minutes, and were about half way to a reserve stand of horses when they looked over their shoulder to see an entire hoard of Titans break the tree line.

It was then, that Levi knew they would not make it in time.


	5. Chapter 5

"Everyone turn and face the threat." Levi calmly ordered.

"Captain, you can't be serious! We won't survive long against that many Titans! I can't even count how many there are! And they just keep pouring out of the forest!" Gunther yelled, forgetting for a moment that they currently were the best Titan-killers in the world, and were standing beside the Captain himself.

"You will obey me, Gunther. We may not last long against these Titans, but at least we won't die like dogs with their tails tucked between their legs running away. Petra, you take Eren and Annie and continue running for the horses, at the very least we will be able to hold out until you return, and then we can escape." Halfway through, Petra had tried to argue but Levi's cold glare stifled that mid-way.

"But Captain, we can fight as well!" Eren tried to get out, but Annie grabbed him and forcefully got him to start running with Petra to the horses.

_Back with the remainder of Levi's squad: _

"Oluo, Erd, Gunther. You three will follow my lead and we will skirt around the outside of the horde. Under no circumstance are you to end up in the middle of the Titans, am I understood?" Levi questioned with a glare.

He was met with a chorus of "Yes, Captain!" Levi smirked then turned to face the incoming Titans that looked at their tiny group with bloodthirsty hunger in their eyes.

Once the nearest Titan got within range, Levi jumped up and shot his hooks directly into it's eyes, am moment later and the gang joined up with Levi after seeing him demolish the first Titan. As more and more Titans were struck down by Levi and his elite squad, the quartet began to see that it was all for naught, for every Titan they killed, four took it's place.

Realizing it was a losing battle, Levi stopped wasting his energy killing Titans and, along with his squad, began just avoiding the small ones as they launched from 14-meter to 14-meter. Since the large Titans were too cumbersome to move as fast as their tiny counterparts, the group stayed extremely safe. At least, until Oluo's gas canister sputtered empty, and he fell downwards towards the pack of hungry looking 8-meters who were quite excited (if Titan's had emotion) to tear his body apart and feast on him.

Levi, who saw Oluo fall, muttered "Oh Fuck!" before diving down after him. Realizing that he would not be able to reach Oluo in time, Levi closed his eyes and whispered something that would have sent shivers down Oluo's spine had he heard. "I'm sorry, Oluo."

Oluo, upon seeing his Captain close his eyes, grew slack as he realized that he would not be getting out of this one. He felt an excruciating pain in his legs before his mind shut down to save him from the upcoming pain.

_Back with Eren, Annie, and Petra, five minutes prior: _

"Alright you two, grab a horse for yourself, and a spare. I'll grab two spares for the squad. Full speed back to the squad!" Petra yelled before the three kicked it into high gear and rocketed towards the group, not realizing that they would never see Oluo whole again.

As the sped back towards the vast army of Titan's, they only had to look for a moment in order to make out where the squad was going. Luckily they were able to get extremely close to the Titan without them noticing. Eren looked up towards the 'canopy' of Titans in time to see a sight that horrified him. Eren jumped off his horse and flew through the air in time to watch Oluo fall helplessly towards the mouth of the ravenous Titans down below.

Understanding that no one else from the group would be able to help Oluo in time, Eren jumped from his position and shot a hook in two completely different directions. One, at the exposed neck of one of the 14-meters, and the other, at Oluo's leg. Both shots hit true, and Eren slingshot Oluo up into the air, where he grabbed him and landed beside Levi.

"Excellent work, Eren. Everyone! Return to the horses!" Levi called out before everyone jumped back onto their trusted steeds and galloped off towards the wall. They had to strap Oluo onto his horse or else he would have fallen off.

Once the gate guards saw the large horde of Titan's racing after Levi's squad, they blocked the exit.

Upon seeing that the guards were more concerned about their own lives, Levi knew what they would have to do.

"Everyone! Were going up and over the Wall. Form up behind me, and Erd, grab Oluo. 1, 2, 3, jump!" Levi yelled before the group launched off of their horses and used their 3DMG's to fly to the top of the Wall. The horses down below, ran off scared, but of course, the Titan's were not interested in them and stuck to clawing at the Wall.

Before Levi could drop down and have a little talk with the guards about their decision, Oluo came to, completely oblivious to the struggle everyone just went through.

"Am I dead? Why are you guys here, did you die as well?" Oluo questioned before grabbing his leg in pain.

"What the Hell!? What happened to my leg, this isn't a bite mark." Oluo questioned before remembering what all happened right before he blacked out. He shivered as he realized that he had been literally an inch away from dying.

"Captain. Thank you for saving me." Oluo stated.

"It was not me, it was one of our rookies, Eren." Levi replied with a smirk, damn he was really glad he got this kid on his squad, in a few years Levi knew that Eren would surpass even him.

Oluo's head swung around to meet Eren's eyes before repeating what he said. After a nervous you're welcome, Eren was once again begin placed at the center of attention. Luckily, Annie was able to drag him back to her side and they started a small conversation.

Levi and his squad/family slowly returned to their HQ after bandaging Oluo up. The ride back was no where near as upbeat as the ride there, but everyone was very thankful to be alive, some more than others.

Once they reached their HQ, everyone disappeared into their respective rooms to rest after a long stressful day. Since it was only afternoon when they returned, everyone woke up from their free time around dinner time. The food was better than usual, since Levi had personally cooked it. No one ever knew that Levi was a good cook, but years of living on your own tend to do that to some people.

After a light training session that was more for reviewing events of the day then training, Eren found himself walking back to his room late at night. Before he could open the door, he heard light crying coming from the other side. After he opened the door though, all he was witnessed to was Annie's sleeping body on her side of the room. Deciding not to wake her, after all she was extremely dangerous when awoken, Eren crawled into bed and shut his eyes.

It was only after Eren breath had fallen into a steady rhythm that Annie crawled out of bed and snuck over to him. After wiping away a few loose tears from her eyes, Annie bent over and gave Eren a light kiss on his forehead, only showing her compassion when she knew no one was looking. Afterwards, she crawled back into bed and went to sleep with a smile on her face, happy that she had kissed Eren at least a little.

But, of course, she was not the only one who knew how to fake their sleep now was she. Eren gazed up into the darkness of the room with a similar small painted on his face before following Annie into the realm of sleep.

A year and many months came and went as the group of seven grew far stronger, and a bit smarter as well. In exactly one month, their group will join up with the main Survey Corps under Erwin in an expedition to seal up Wall Maria and slaughter all the Titans along the way. It was going to be a very long and dangerous mission, but with their new found skills, they were sure to make it. Another big event coming up is Eren's 17th birthday. Funny enough, it would actually be the day before the expedition, and they were not scheduled to return until they had made the outer Wall safe again. Of course, not many people knew what their goal was, but since they were the elites they were given permission.

Among other things that progressed, was Levi and Petra's relationship coming out into the open, and a few months ago, their kid was born. Unlike in today's world, where babies are named as soon as they emerge from the womb, Levi and Petra decided to wait on naming him.

Eren and Annie's relationship also progressed, and they were actually about to hit their one year anniversary of sorts. Of course, we all know that Annie wears the pants in that relationship, but Eren's skills shot up more than anyone else, and in fact he could rival Captain Levi now.

The squad had gone on many more expeditions since their first, but none had ended up quite as bad as the first. They had a few close calls, and Gunther had to wear a cast for a couple weeks, but other than that, everything stayed the same in their family/squad.

_Back to the present: _

"Come on Eren, you know it is your turn to watch little Levi." Annie giggled.

"Yea, yea, I'm about head on over now." Eren replied, not wanting to remove himself from holding his girlfriend. Eventually, though, Annie forced him to get up and get moving. Although Eren was debatably the strongest in their squad, he was still under the Captain's orders and thus, was on baby-duty.

As he left his room, and headed towards Levi's, he thought about all the things that have changed over the time he's been with his squad. 'They're more like family than just a squad really. They even helped Annie get out of her original mindset and become more open. At least now we all know about Annie's unhealthy obsession with animals, particularly snakes,' Eren thought to himself before he found himself at Levi's door.

After a series of knocks, Eren was invited inside and he began the long arduous task of caring for a child. 'Experience for when Annie and I decide to have one.' Eren told himself so he did not just exploded from the constant amount of energy a young kid took. He could not wait until it turned old enough to be taught how to use the 3DMG, oh he would make this kid a pro.

The last month passed by just as quick as the others, and before anyone knew it, Petra was handing over her son to a local family they knew to watch over him, and the squad was gearing up for war. In only a few hours, they would all be meeting up with the main force and riding out into Titan territory. Their losses would be high, but hopefully, they would be able to seal up the Wall, and then from there they would spend as long as was required to eradicate all the Titans.

**With a single command**, Levi's squad rushed out to meet Erwin's Survey Corps.

** With a single command, **the force rushed out of the gates on their long term mission.

** With a single command, **Eren and his elite squad sealed up Wall Maria for good while killing the Female Titan in the process, everyone thanking their hero, Eren.

** With a single command, **Eren, Annie, and Petra sadly buried the bodies of Levi, Gunther, Oluo, and Erd after a successful but tragic mission in defeating the Armored and Colossal Titan.

** With a single command, **the force that had set out two years ago returned, after losing 85% of their troops, including the Commander Erwin and the hero and father, Eren Jaeger.

**With a single command, **the children of the strongest Titan-killers that ever lived;Eren Erd Ackerman and Levi Gunther Jaeger led the troops along with the windowed Annie Jaeger and Petra Ackerman deep into Titan territory. It would be many generations later, and countless lives lost before the World would become Titan free.

**With a single command, **the children in school hundreds of years in the future would open their books to begin reading about the famous Eren Jaeger, and his contribution to retaking the world.

**With a single command, **this story is concluded.

**Fin**


End file.
